Page 27 of Angel Lost

“Mine was similar. I’ll design one.”

“Now you’re an artist too?” Chano asks.

“Tattooist,” Kai corrects.

Chano scoffs as Kai removes his gloves and begins a rough sketch.

“I don’t care how it looks, so long as it works,” I say, squeezing Chano’s fingers, willing him to shut up. This would be so much easier if they would stop taking cheap shots at one another.

Chano plucks Kai’s pad from his fingers. “It’s going on your skin, chica. It better be good.”

Chano’s fingers smooth the paper and he pauses, bringing it closer to his face. “These are half-decent,” he mutters.

It shouldn’t matter but…I take the pad from him and gasp. What Kai has sketched in a few short minutes is nothing short of stunning. There’s something about it though…

I hand it back.

“Change it. It’s too much like an allegiance mark.” He’s not replacing Naeve. No one can replace Naeve.

Zephyr leans over, flicking back and forth between the sketches. “A pentagram is a strong shape. It has to be for the magic it needs to contain.”

“It’s good, chica,” Chano admits gruffly before turning to Kai. “You do this on the side?”

“I’m still learning.” Kai shrugs. “I need to get better…”

I stand, suddenly uncomfortable. “Wait, you might not have the skill?”

Kai rolls his eyes, pressing down on my shoulders, making me sit again. “No. I’m skilled enough for this. It’s the stronger, darker stuff that needs extra precision. Better spell work.”

“This is very strong magic,” Farrell protests, tugging at his tie.

Kai shrugs, bored.

“What else are you planning, fae?” Farrell asks. “World domination?”

“None of your damn business,” Kai replies, his cool facade gone in a heartbeat. “You all made it clear you don’t trust me. Why would I trust you?”

He snaps on a fresh pair of gloves and picks up his tattoo gun, brandishing it in the air.

“Okay, okay,” I mutter. “Everyone has secrets. Let’s just calm down before we do this.”

I do not want an angry man to give me my first tattoo. No, thank you. I grip the seat, knuckles whitening as the machine starts to buzz.

Chapter Nine: Lorelei

“You better be right about this.” Chano scowls down at Hewie, water plastering his shirt to his body. Sheet lightning illuminates the hard lines of his face, and Hewie gulps. Thunder booms as I make a dash to the next building, slipping and sliding in my stupid sandals but somehow staying upright. By the time we make it to the back of the squat gray building that houses the fae, we’re all soaked. Of course it wasn’t as simple as getting a tattoo. I should have known. Only after he’d started did Kai drop that bombshell. It needs to be finished in a place of elemental power.

Slime oozes between my toes. I squelch onward, following Hewie’s shrieks into the darkness. The place is disgusting. Why would they force the fae to use this as a shower block? It should be condemned. The contrast between Kai’s quarters and here…I shudder. I’m surprised the other fae still trust him at all.

One by one, we slip and slide down the side of the building and through a woody copse to a dilapidated gardener’s hut. I’ve passed it a hundred times, and it never once caught my attention. My neck prickles, and I still, peering back into the darkness. Nothing…

Under Hewie’s instruction, Chano heaves the decaying door open, its water-swollen underside catching on the ground. It refuses to budge any farther, forcing us to squeeze through the narrow gap. Lightning illuminates dust motes in the air as Hewie bustles forward, squeezing between rusty tools. He tugs at a fusty hay bale. The baler twine snaps in his hand,and he lands on his butt with a yelp. I bite the inside of my cheek. Must not laugh. Nope.

“A little help?” he calls from the ground, pulling straw out of his hair.

Chano cocks an eyebrow at Farrell and together they heave the bale to the side, muscles bunching under their drenched shirts.

“Brutes,” Hewie mutters.

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